Bobby pin



Jul 22, 1952 SQROBB 2,604,103

I BOBBY PIN File'd NOV. 13, 1950 INVENTOR.

Patented July 22, 1952 BOBBY PIN .Al'vinS; Robb, DracuhiM ass. Application November 13, 1950;. Serial No; 195,299

' :fIhis invention. relatesto. what .arelrnown. commercially as bobby pinssu'ch' as. are used. tohold pin: curls in place.

It is not what is generallyknownas a curler which. is adeviceupon which the hair iswound and then held in-place by some sortiof. movable member, and it difiers fromithe' old-fashioned hairppin which was. simply a wire, generally round-bent: near thefmiddle soas to have abow there-and arm's projecting therefrom; I

pinxcurlaia; lockxsof: hair is:genera1ly-.moistened,

then-wound. around the finger, the-finger removed and the curl flattened out but with a part of the lock extending back to the head so that. the curl is'notwhat is known as a tight curl. a

' The purposeof. such pins-is to permit the hair ofthe "wearer to be done up-when wet or. moist and'held in place by means of bobby pins which are often worn overnight. Its principal purpose is to provide such-a pin which will have no point, no rough partahd no joint or hinge whichmight' irritate the scalp of the wearer.

Many such pins now in use require that the user-should open the arms with the thumb nail to putit in place and many: are so bentthatthe points will engage and irritate" the scalp of the wearer. v I

To separate the members to-- get the curl between them, many pins now in 'use require-two hands eachholding one member or one hand holding one member, while the other member is held between the teeth. When separated, the members must be held apart while. the; device is pushed onto the'curl.

is wet or damp andafter: my device is put in place, th'ehai'r dries quickly=and easily. Mypin has an open mouth and after-the cur-l ismade and held by the le ft hand, -the= pin is picked up with the right; and the open: mouth pushed on to the curl, between the edges of the freeends of the fingersand, on account: or thenbendrofithe bent fing'erat or near where it. .crosses I the straight finger to form one jaw of the mouth, as itzispushed on to thecurl' between the' fiat faces of the .fingers, this not only; opens .the' fingers; but

turns 2 the; pin;- 90, .bringing-i :the. fiat faces: into parallellipl'anes. ';It:1 can, and must-turn: one .wayonlyiand'.when the :fiat ,iaces .are, parallelzan'd ad.

joiningcthe. curl. ,is.:firm1y: held .in: place'zby :the

I contact or closeness of. the finger; tips but can 'be releaseiand reset by pulling. ,it off from, the pin 7 My We [made at strip of. fiat. pring-y .4 Claims: (01. 132-50) in dressing hair to' formswhat are; known as" Such-pin curls are usually made while the hair.

metal, preferably of half round shape, the facesbetween parallel .edgesbeing of greater width than the thickness of the metal. For convenience, I will speak of length as lengthwise, width as crosswise and thickness as fiatwise.

I The strip is medially bent fiatwise to form a loop with its inner flat i'aces adjacent and its members converging and becomingv two fingers one. being straight and the other bent and crossing the first finger diagonally crosswise and preferably being spaced from the first finger and also being bent again at its end flatwise to form a ,free endspaced from anddiverging-fiatwise and crosswise from the free end of the-straight finger; to form a mouth to. receive a curledystrand of. hair which may be wet or moist.

The fingers where they cross preferably donot touch, but the flat faces adjoin each other and the construction is such that when a strand of hair is pushed or'forced in and through the mouth between the ends of the fingers and between their edges and the flat faces so that it spreads-the fingers apart, the strand is heldnin a substantially fiat position while the fiat, wide facesof the. tips of the free ends of thefingers are parallel and in-.

substantiallythe same plane. while the rounded faces of the fingers are on the. exterior, whereby there is little, if. anything, to catch the hair or toirritate thescalp.

- Instead ofhalf round wire; I canuse a wire with a cross section of flattened ellipsoidal form, at.-,

leastone long facebeing substantially flat.

The'strip otfiat facespringy metal can be so bent that when the curlof hair'is of such thickness that, when it is forced into the mouth formed by the;crossed free ends; of its fingersand the tip ofthe bent finger is inside the fiat face of the;

other finger, the tip of thebent finger will spring crosswise around the edge of the tip of, the straight finger until part of the. fiat faces of the tips of both fingers engage, leaving only round.

or curved surfaces on the outside.

I am aware that there are various types of. so.- called hair pins such as shown in the patents to Summa; No. 839,791 of December 25, 1906,,and

Carlisle, No. 1,357,271 of November 2, 1920.

These are made of round wire with parts. which will; irritate the scalp as is also true of Durand of. August.-,3, 1926, No. 1,594,933, andReimann of: May-1%5, 192 8;,,No. 1,669,535, which is made. of

non-resilient: roundwire to be. bent into shape;

My bobby pin can be put on while the hair is wet-and. canzeasily be taken offibut will hold the, hairfirml-y-inplace during the night orwh lethe; --'hair is drying. It can be easily taken off by a light lengthwise pull and as it is of springy Wire,

width crosswise between the edges being greater;

than the thickness of the metal.

It is also shown as of the same width and thick ness throughout its entire length.

The normal or usual position of the free ends of the fingers is diverging with their edges almost but not quite touching where they cross and with the mouth open to receive a curl and the endsspring back into that position when the curl is pulled out from between them. The ends are not locked but the curl is held in place by the pressure of the fingers and it can be pushed through or pulled out of the mouth without prying the finger ends apart and the mouth automatically opens with very slight pressure from the curl going in or coming out. 1

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view showing my device holding and locking a pin curl in place between the fiat or inside faces of a straight finger and of a bent-finger.

The device is formed of a piece of springy wire indicated generally by D which is bent at B to form a loop, the members of which extend as a straight finger S, part of which at I6 is spaced from but nearly parallel with or converges toward the part M of the other finger C which is again bent fiatwise at I8, preferably in a smooth curve with a substantially straight free end indicated at l5. L The free end of straight finger S is indicated by' l9. 1 2 I,

' These two fingers S and C are extensions of the members of the loop B and as shown in Fig. 4,

'Figs. 4 and 5.

Fig. 2 is a cross section as on the line 2-2 of V Fig. 1.

Fig. 3is a view as from the outside or rounded side of thebent finger with no hair in place and with the relative width of the finger or fingers somewhat exaggerated.

Fig. 4 is a view as from the right or edge of Fig. 1 showing a pin curl being introduced into the mouth of the device between the edges of the jaws of the mouth of the device showing the fingers before they'are pressed apart by the introduction of the hair, and before they are turned 90 as shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, but showing the fingers pressed apart by the introduction of a thick curl up to the middle bend and before such pushing turns the device 90 as shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 6 is a view as from the left of Fig. 5, showing a curl in place, and the device turned ninety degrees.

Fig. 7 is a cross section of the preferred kind of springy wire of which the device is made.

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 7 of an alternative form. 7

Fig. 9 is a detail of the tips of the straight and 5 bent fingers.

Fig. 10 is a View exaggerated the bottom of Fig. 3. V

Fig. 11 is a cross sectional view as on the line H|I of Fig.4.

in width as from Fig. 12 is a cross sectional view as on the'line |2--l2 of Fig. 5. Fig. 13 is a view as from the bottom of Fig. 6.

Fig. 14 is a view similar to Fig. 6, of a modification, and 7 Fig. 15 is a view as from the bottom of Fig. 14..

In the drawings, A represents the head of-a human being and H represents a well known type of pin curl including a coil 20 attached to the head as by an extension by the root part 2 I. Such pin curls are usually made by winding'the 'curl around the finger into a spiral and then collapsing the spiral so that it is a ness as 20.

coil of substantial thick-- are substantially parallel or converge at M and 16, leaving a space between in which the pin curl H is finally looked, as shown in Figs.5, 6, and 13.

As shown in Fig. 2, the coil 20 of the curl H is forced between thefiat faces I, I, of the free On the other hand, the rounded face 2 is always I nearest thehead A.

The tips H of finger S and I! of finger C are.

both preferably rounded in the manner shown in Fig. 9, and the bend l8 of finger C is such thatwhen, as shown in Fig. 5, the straight parts 14 and 16 are pressed'apart, while the hair H forms a coil 20, the tips I l and ll of the fingers C and S will liein substantially the same plane, as shown in Fig. 13.

As shown in Figs. 4 and 11, the coil 20 of the pin curl H is introduced between the adjoining, edges of fingers C and S and between the fiat faces I, I of the mouth M, Figs. 4 and 5, or the device is pushed on a coil by the fingers.

I find that when this occurs, either automatically or by a slight twist of the fingers, the device turns about ninety degrees so that instead of the edges 3 and/or 4 being next to the scalp of the wearer, the rounded face 2, either of the straight"- or bent fingers will be next to the scalp, depending on the way in which the device is held when put in place. In any event, the rounded tips H and [1 will be in substantially the same plane and,

there is nothing to irritate the scalp.

In'Fig. 8 is shown a wire F which is of a flattened ellipsoidal cross section with a long face 3| which preferably is substantially fiat, rounded edges 33 and 34 and a flattened rounded curved face 32.

If the springy metal is so bent at a loop 40,

as when a thickcurl,20;forces the tip 4| of the bent finger to pass inside the fiat face of the tip 42, the fiat faceof tip 4| willrest partly on the fiat face1of tip 42 and only the rounded faces of the fingers will be outside, as shown in Fig. 15.

I claim:

1. A bobby pin for pin curls, such pin being.

formed of a substantially half round strip of springy metal of uniform. width, the faces ,be-

tween parallel edges being ofgreater width than the-thickness of the metaLone face of the strip being flat and the otherrounded, the strip being medially bent flatwise to form a loop with its inner fiat faces adjacent and its members con verging and becoming two fingers which extend diagonally crosswise at a very acute angle, one

finger being substantially straight with a free end terminating in a rounded tip and the other finger being bent, the bent finger being spaced from and crossing the straight finger diagonally and being bent fiatwise to form a free end terminating in a rounded tip, the bent finger crossing the plane of the fiat face of the straight finger and being spaced crosswise therefrom and diverging fiatwise and crosswise from the free end of the straight finger to form a mouth between edges of and. the faces of the free ends of sufficient size to receive a curled strand of hair large enough to enter between the fingers and to force them apart thereby to make the flat faces of the tips of the free ends of the fingers lie in substantially the same plane.

2. A bobby pin for pin curls, such pin being formed of a substantially half round strip of springy metal of uniform width, the faces between parallel edges being of greater width than the thickness of the metal, one face of the strip being fiat and the other rounded, the strip being medially bent fiatwise to form a loop with its inner fiat faces adjacent and its members converging and becoming two fingers which extend diagonally crosswise at a very acute angle, one

finger being substantially straight with a free end terminating in a rounded tip and the other finger being bent, the bent finger being spaced from and crossing the straight finger diagonally and being bent fiatwise to form a free end terminating in a rounded tip, the bent finger crossing the plane of the fiat face of the straight finger and being spaced crosswise therefrom and diverging fiatwise and crosswise from the free end of the straight finger to form a mouth between edges of and the faces of the free ends of sufficient size to receive a curled strand of hair large enough to enter between the fingers and to force them apart thereby to make the fiat faces of the tips of the free ends of the fingers lie in the same plane one overlapping the other.

3. A bobby pin for pin curls, such pin being formed of a substantially half round strip of springy metal of uniform width, the faces between [parallel edges being of greater width than the thickness of the metal, one face of the strip being fiat and the other rounded. the strip being medially bent fiatwise to form a loop with its inner fiat faces adjacent and its members converging and becoming two fingers which extend diagonally crosswise at a very acute angle, one finger being substantially straight with a free end terminating in a rounded tip and the other finger being bent, the bent finger being spaced from and crossing the straight finger diagonally and being bent fiatwise to form a free end terminating in a rounded tip, the bent finger crossing the plane of the flat face of the straight finger and being spaced crosswise therefrom and diverging fiatwise and crosswise from the free end of the straight finger to form a mouth between edges of and the faces of the free ends.

4. A bobby pin for pin curls, such pin being formed of a strip of springy metal of uniform width, the faces between parallel edges being of greater width than the thickness of the metal "and the edges being rounded, one face of the strip being fiat, the strip being medially bent fiatwise to form a loop with its inner fiat faces adjacent and its members converging and becoming two fingers which extend diagonally crosswise at a very acute angle, one finger being substantially straight with a free end terminating in a rounded tip and the other finger being bent, the bent finger being spaced from and crossing the straight finger diagonally and being bent fiatwise to form a free end terminating in a rounded tip, the bent finger crossing the plane of the fiat face of the straight finger, being spaced crosswise therefrom and diverging fiatwise and crosswise from the'free end of the straight finger to form a month between edges of and the faces of the free ends.

ALVIN S. ROBB.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,742,181 Austin Jan. 7, 1930 1,755,915 Durham Apr. 22, 1930 2,268,629 Wardell Jan. 6, 1942 2,316,179 Moseley Apr. 13, 1943 

